Greywater irrigation can support climbing plant growth on building green façades
2021
Chung, Pei-Wen | Livesley, Stephen J. | Rayner, John P. | Farrell, Claire
Green façades can help to cool cities and buildings best when they are irrigated to provide good canopy growth and transpiration cooling. Irrigating green façades with greywater can reduce potable water demand and make use of building greywater supplies, however, greywater may negatively impact climbing plant growth through salt accumulation. We evaluated the effects of greywater irrigation on substrate properties (pH and EC) and the growth of six climbing plant species in an 18-week glasshouse experiment. Three irrigation treatments were applied to climbing plants: (1) potable water, (2) greywater, and (3) greywater flushed with potable water once every three weeks. Substrate pH did not differ among treatments, but substrate EC was greatest when irrigated with greywater flushed with potable water. Greywater irrigation was not detrimental to climbing plant growth, demonstrating that domestic greywater could replace potable water irrigation of building green façades in urban environments.
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